No prefiltration no problem.

[Big E]

I haven't used pre filters since 1990 and only used them the one year in '89 when I had trickle filters.

Those socks and roller mats are both useless tools to me. I don't want any bacterial plankton or micro plankton being taken out of the system which is food for my acros.

My frag tank has a black plastic tub as a sump(which has all my live rock)...........there are a ton of sponges and plenty of worms as well. I recently put in a new skimmer and was going to clean the assumed accumulated detritus and there wasn't even 2 ounces of mulm/detritus after two years. Between the worms, pods various sponges and followed by bacteria everything seemed to have been consumed down that food chain.

 

[atoll]

I haven't used pre filters since 1990 and only used them the one year in '89 when I had trickle filters.

Those socks and roller mats are both useless tools to me. I don't want any bacterial plankton or micro plankton being taken out of the system which is food for my acros.

My frag tank has a black plastic tub as a sump(which has all my live rock)...........there are a ton of sponges and plenty of worms as well. I recently put in a new skimmer and was going to clean the assumed accumulated detritus and there wasn't even 2 ounces of mulm/detritus after two years. Between the worms, pods various sponges and followed by bacteria everything seemed to have been consumed down that food chain.

Unfortunately we will never convince many that filter wool socks or roller mats are not necessary at all. You see with all these companies selling such singing their virtues along with not so much misinformation but avoiding the question of why they are needed and what they are really removing along with the downsides of them. Well you wouldn't expect anything else now would you after all there is no money to be made in selling...well nothing really. Same goes for lotions and potions there are literally hundreds if not thousands on the market.